Everlasting
by MisticLight
Summary: The final voyage of Evelyn takes her beyond the ends of the Earth. Although finding Jack and keeping the waters free for all sailors proves to be a grueling task, it's the internal struggle between the mind and heart that proves to be the real challenge. Third installment to "A Dangerous Love," right after "Mind the Tide." Will Turner/OC.


**Hello Everyone! And welcome back to the, potentially, final installment of Evelyn's adventure! It's been a long ride, having started all the way back in 2009, but oh goodness has it been fun! Thank you everyone for all the support, especially those of you who have been with me from the very beginning. Because of all your help, this little series rose from the first part being my least reviewed story on here to the second part being my second highest. I'm having a hard time believing the growth myself! Again, thank you all so much!**

**Now I know I said I would post this in August because I wanted to edit past chapters first, but guess what? None of that actually happened and I feel terrible for having you all wait! With a broken computer, classes more stressful than anticipated, and a death in the family, it was a bit hard to find typing time. But now I'm here and about ready to start the new chapter leading to the conclusion you've all been waiting for! This is going to be difficult to end… What if I cry? What if you cry? What if we **_**all**_** cry? I DON'T KNOW. We'll just have to see.**

**Anyway, here you are my lovely readers! Chapter one! And it's written in a format I've never really done before but thought now would be the perfect time to experiment. I'll start answering some of your reviews next time, so I hope to see some long ones!**

**~MisticLight**

**P.S. Because of school, don't be surprised if I can't update as frequently as I have in the past. Do note, however, that this ****will**** have a conclusion. I plan to stick with it until the end.**

~.~.~.~.

_Will and I were distant, yet not entirely apart._

_As far as I knew, he and Elizabeth were still engaged. Yet Will wanted nothing to do with her, preferring to spend all hours of the day with me instead. In fact, we essentially spent every moment together since leaving Tia Dalma's shack. Although our recent adventures made being near one another seem natural, I felt a strange tension rising between us. And the silent dispute between Will and Elizabeth only raised that friction. They hardly spoke to one another, and if ever they did, only a few words were exchanged. Will always turned his back on her, and as time progressed, she, too, fell into a similar pattern. Their mute interactions had them traveling in opposite directions, leaving me standing alone where they had intersected._

_There was so much Elizabeth did not know. Of how Will witnessed her kiss with Jack, and that he then told me… or how his confession of her infidelity then led us to passionately commit one of our own. Barbossa was the only one who knew, and fortunately he had yet to address it. Sometimes I forgot he even found us in the first place. Yet it was because of him that then allowed a final secret to be kept from Elizabeth… one hidden even from Will._

_For how was he know that I had fallen in love with him?_

~.~.~.~.

The waters of Singapore were murky, coated with fog, and riddled with a mysterious green substance that I did not wish to know the identity of. However, I was already knee deep in it. And I wasn't particularly excited about going any further. I had to, though, much to my distaste. Fortunately I wasn't alone, for the majority of the crew was wading around with me. Only Barbossa, Elizabeth, Will, and the newly joined Tia Dalma were missing. Why were they elsewhere? Because Barbossa commanded us to follow his plan based on the mere fact that he was Captain.

"_We all play our own parts in this world, so separated we shall be," _he had said, pausing the tossing of his apple. Barbossa then began to hum a soft tune. At the time I found the action completely against his character. However, I soon learned the name of the song to be "Hoist the Colours" and that it acted as a call to arms for the members of the Brethren Court. Elizabeth, Will, and I, being the only ones not to know of the song or a Brethren Court_, _then had to be education about each before Barbossa could continue with an explanation of how and why we had to reach Singapore.

Commandeering an inferior ship after rowing all the way back to Tortuga became our strategy, and from there we would sail across countless miles of open water just to reach a city under the command of Pirate Lord Captain Sao Feng. We needed his navigational charts, apparently, in order to reach the farthest gate that would eventually send us into Davy Jones' Locker so we could rescue Jack. The charts were not located on Sao Feng's person, but rather in his uncle's temple, which led to the main reason as to why our party had to partake in separate journeys. Someone would steal the charts, another attempt to negotiate with Sao Feng in Singapore, while a third infiltrated his bath house.

I was put into the third category. Although surrounded by the most people, there was another position I initially wanted to be assigned to despite possible discomfort…

~.~.~.~.

_Whenever we touched, our rising tension could be felt._

_Whether an accidental brush or an intentional friendly graze, I felt prickles vine across my skin from where Will and I had made contact. They sprouted into my chest until it felt as though my gut wished to fly away from me. My insides felt lighter, but outside the heavy weight of something similar to guilt pressed against me. I would immediately flinch away from him, and he would do the same to me. We would then go our separate ways, but it would only be for a short while. Just long enough for my thoughts to be collected. Then Will would somehow be by my side once more and we carried on as though nothing happened._

_However, our moments of isolation grew as the voyage continued and Elizabeth became more distant._

~.~.~.~.

"Quite humming that tune, Missy, and join the rest of us!" Gibbs called from deeper in the water. The other four men were gathered around him and I felt foolish for never noticing them leave. Absentmindedly humming Barbossa's song didn't make me feel any better either, especially since the haunting melody was sung only in dark times.

With a quick shake of my head I hurriedly maneuvered through the water to join the others. Its level rose from knee to stomach by the time I reached them, but Gibbs only gave a soft sigh as a form of greeting. I assumed he hadn't enjoyed the small splashes I made in my haste, but I internally shrugged off the matter. We were still a few feet from the city. The patrolling East India Trading Company guards were not quite near enough to hear me.

"Now that we're all gathered…" he lowly said, casting one final side glance in my direction. I turned my attention to the group of strange hats and bamboo tubes he held rather than his exasperated expression. "Everyone take one of these. We'll be needing them to reach the sewers."

After fastening equipment to his person, he began passing out the remaining sets. However, once he reached my end of the huddle, all that remained was a bamboo breathing tube. I looked from the tube to Gibbs with eyes narrowed in confusion. "Was there a change of plan? Does Barbossa no longer want me to go with you?"

"No," he slowly questioned, blinking twice as he processed his shortage of supplies. I made to ask another question, but was cut short by Gibbs suddenly thrusting the tube into my hands. "No, he never told me any different. Must've misplaced a cap is all."

"Am I to go without one, then?"

"Aye, that appears to be our only option," Gibbs shrugged. I detected a bit of sympathy in his face, but nothing more. He spun away from me too soon.

"She'll have to swim awfully far beneath the surface. Her hair'll stand out in the wa'er on account of it not matching these here caps." Ragetti suddenly said. I started at his voice because I was not expecting any form of defense, let alone by him. Only a year or so ago he tried to have me along with those under the command of Captain Jack Sparrow killed. Although I knew he was far more compassionate than his companion, his transition of meaning to kill me to wanting to make sure I stayed alive in Singapore was quite strange.

Gibbs paused in his tracks upon hearing the pirate's voice, his shoulders dropping. He knew what Ragetti said was true. The waters within Singapore were not deep, according to Barbossa. They were made to only have small boats be pushed through, meaning we would be able to crawl so long as the tops of our heads were disguised as something floating in the water. By not having anything to cover my head, I would have to swim with my stomach grazing the soil. That would be a struggle in itself, not including how the pressure of the water would most likely release my hair from the tight bun it was in.

"And what do you suppose we do then, hm?" Pintel countered, waving his hat in his friend's face. "Cut off her hair so it looks more like these caps?"

I crossed my arms at his suggestion and released a disgusted sigh. With raised brows I harshly stared locked eyes with him. "Or perhaps we could just use _your _head."

"_My head_?" Pintel questioned, making a revolted face matching my own. "My head looks nothing like-"

"Now that's not a bad idea, Missy." Gibbs seemed to have ignored Pintel's complaints entirely as he joined our stilled group with a smile on his face. "Pintel, hand Evelyn your cap. Cotton, make ready to release that parrot of yours!"

The muted man nodded his response before carrying out his orders. His bird was to be our signal to Tia Dalma that we were about to head for the sewers, so her distraction to cover up our eventual noise needed to begin soon. However, when I reached for Pintel's hat, he pulled it far from my grasp. "Why can't Marty do it? He has lesser hair than me!"

Marty, already securely fastening his cap to his head, turned to Pintel with a smug grin. "I'm smaller," he satisfyingly shrugged before placing the tube in his mouth and plunging further into the water.

I smiled after the pirate until all but his cap was beneath the surface. My expression didn't change as I turned back to Pintel, my hand stretched out in anticipation of my disguise. He was not entirely thrilled about surrendering, but the release of Cotton's parrot and retreating figure of Gibbs apparently set some sort of realization in his head. After a most heated glare to his nephew and a heavy sigh, the hat was placed in my hand.

"Thank you," I smiled to the brooding pirate. His only response was a few incoherent mumbles that carried his legs further into the water. I found myself sighing at him again as I shoved the cap onto my head, making sure to carefully maneuverer it over the bun Elizabeth had made me.

~.~.~.~.

_I managed to spend a few moments with Elizabeth during our voyage to Singapore, though each session was brief and eventually interrupted by Will. Sometimes I simply ran into her, such as when Will, on Barbossa's orders, was about to depart from the ship alone in order to steal the navigational charts. The reason I didn't know where he had gone was because I managed to accidentally collide into him due to Barbossa suddenly stopping in his tracks in order to look through his telescope. The Captain and I had been in conversation about the fundamentals of the Singapore plans, and because of his strange stopping, I myself had to stop my fast paced stride. Not wanting to run into Barbossa and chance angering him yet still needing to travel somewhere in order to better stable myself, I forced myself to fall backwards. My other foot was supposed to catch me, but instead I ended up in Will's arms because he had been much closer than I anticipated._

_The entire situation felt strange. Thus, after helping me straighten up, Will wordlessly headed below deck while I returned to my conversation with Barbossa. Hours later and he had yet to return, and the time of his parting was nearing. Already I spotted approaching land upon the horizon, and that was without a telescope._

_So I had to be the one to break our separation. Not because my head had cleared, but because I was afraid our tension would make Will leave without a final farewell._

_Crewmember after crewmember could not tell me where he was, but thankfully I found Elizabeth. I quickly shuffled over to her. "Elizabeth! Have you seen Will at all?"_

_Her head tilted and her eyes momentarily flitted from my face to the floor, as was her new reaction whenever Will was either mentioned or seen. "Yes, I passed him some time ago… He was heading for the bottom of the ship where storage is located. I don't know whether he's still there or not, but he appeared rather distressed."_

"_Thank you," I sighed. Although relieved I would see Will before he left, a new concern towards Elizabeth's wellbeing began to rise. Thus I lingered until her curious gaze fell to me. "Are you… Is everything…" I couldn't figure out how to ask if she was all right without sounding as though I already knew the answer. So with a deep breath I tried a different approach. "Would you like to meet in our cabin in a few moments? I doubt Tia Dalma will be there, so we could shut out the concerns of our current adventures for a small while before approaching Singapore. Or perhaps I could tighten that braid of yours for you to better hide beneath the predicted East India Trading Company soldiers' noses." I paused for her answer, but Elizabeth only appeared startled. It was then I realized what my words could have meant. "Not that your braid is necessarily bad. Because it's not! I just thought you needed some time away from the wor-"_

"_No, Evelyn, you're all right," she lightly chuckled, smiling for the first time in weeks. "You only surprised me. What you ssuggest sounds lovely, thank you."_

"_I'll see you then," I smiled with a nod. Once she returned the gesture I scrambled to the stairs and proceeded to descend onto the lowest portion of the ship._

~.~.~.~.

Reaching the sewers was simple. All we did was maneuver in a close huddle so to the outside world we appeared like objects floating in the water. With a bit of concentration, we reached our destination quickly, which I was quite fine with because I wanted to leave the soiled water as soon as possible.

Ragetti took the lead of our party, sacrificing himself to occasionally emerge from the water to make sure we were headed in the right direction. I only poked my head up if a shadow suddenly crossed the water. More often than not that meant a bridge had been built and it was safe to gulp in some air, which I made sure to take full advantage of. I hated breathing through the bamboo tube. The fear of suffocating filled my mind from the small amount of entering air. I also found myself gagging as the revolting taste of Singapore's water managed to slip through the crevices.

The entire swim was brutal and I was quite happy when Ragetti finally stood up, signaling to the rest of us that we had officially reached the sewers. I wasted no time in rising from the water and securing a spot alongside the iron bars. "Thank God," I sighed, spitting the tube into my hand and removing the cap. Both I discarded into the water.

Ragetti placed a finger atop his lips before pointing upwards. I heard faint footsteps and the muffled voices of men. Their dialect matched my own, proving them to be part of the East India Trading Company. Though my sigh had been silent, my breath still caught. However, the noises faded and were replaced by the wheels of a cart. When it stopped directly above us, a loud tune spilled through the bridge… a song I recognized as "Hoist the Colours."

I smiled. _Tia Dalma._

"All right." Gibbs's muffled voice drew my eyes from the bridge and back onto the bars. Prior to leaving our temporary ship, Barbossa handed each of us a large file he, among many things managed to swipe from Tortuga. I stored mine in my boot for safe keeping, but the time had finally emerged for it to be used. So I swiftly pulled the tool out to begin sawing at the upper right portion of the bars.

"Be silent and make haste, lads," Gibbs continued. "Tia Dalma can only distract them for so long, and we must be well into the sewers before then."

"And out of this foul water," I mumbled. My mere mention of the water put the memory of mud into my mouth. I felt my lips react in a pucker, but didn't allow the thought to take hold of my concentration.

"Though foul, it's the only way in. If we don't break through these bars, Barbossa and Elizabeth could get themselves into trouble. And there's no telling what'll happen to them without weapons." Gibbs shivered off his thought, momentarily pausing his filing. Part of our job was to carry enough weapons for ourselves, Barbossa, and Elizabeth just in case the worst should happen. We were their reinforcement. "Besides, if we can't help them and their negotiations with Sao Feng, then we won't be getting those charts from Will."

_Will…_

My hand tightened upon the bar and I nearly dropped the file.

I hadn't seen him in hours, though it felt like days had passed. Although I tried forcing myself not to worry too much about his separate mission, there were moments my thoughts trickled back to him. I was deeply concerned for what the outcome would be. An entire temple against a single man didn't exactly have favorable odds. Will would find a way to succeed in his own way, I was sure, but that still didn't make me feel any less uncomfortable. Especially since this was the first time either of us partook in an adventurous task without the other.

When last I heard Will's name, I myself had said it. I had been searching for him, knowing it was the final time I would see him for some time. However, the farewell I pictured us having did not match our actual departure.

~.~.~.~.

"_Will?" I paused next to the side of the stairs, too hesitant to completely emerge from its shadow._

_Just as Elizabeth said, Will was at the very bottom of the ship. Numerous abandoned containers mixed with the food supplies and tools we actually used on the voyage cluttered the room. Rope and pieces of cloth spilled from the contents of individual crates, including what Elizabeth, Will, and I had previously worn. Barbossa deemed us too obvious and forced each of us to find new attire during our brief trip to Tortuga. I saw the task as tedious, despite feeling better with a fresh set of clothing._

"_Will?" I called again when he didn't stir form atop a barrel. My voice strengthened in case he hadn't heard me the first time, and apparently that proved to be true. His form jumped at my voice and his head snapped in my direction. Even through the dimmed lighting of the storage space I could see the whites of his eyes flickering across the room. He could not see me, and the dark green shirt I now wore probably didn't help. So I stepped into a small shaft of light emitting through the floorboards. "Land has been spotted on the horizon. You'll be leaving soon."_

_He smiled a brief greeting, but his face quickly fell and he turned away from me. "Has Barbossa sent you to get me then?"_

"_No!" I quickly assured to his wearied tone. He seemed faraway, as though pulled from his thoughts. What detachment he displayed had me quickly shuffling towards him. "I came on my own terms, fearing that you would leave without saying goodbye."_

_Will made to look back at me, but stopped himself short. Though I could only see half his face, it was clearly twisted with confusion. Perhaps even a hint of pain. "Why would you think that?"_

_I thought that because we'd actively been avoiding one another after specific events took place, but how was I to tell him that? My thinking was probably foolish. Will simply could have had something to attend to, accidentally leaving me to overthink everything. I didn't want to risk upsetting or bewildering him, especially since he appeared to be pushing everyone except me away. Yet at the same time, I needed to be honest. If we had no trust, then we had nothing._

"_It was just a fear, Will. You know I worry," I answered as lightly as possible. Since there was truth behind my words, Will accepted my response and returned to facing the side wall. He didn't need to know the entirety of my concern._

_His reply was silence. He knew I was standing behind him and yet he faced away without even attempting to converse with me. This was not how I envisioned our departure, and I refused to allow our underlining tension break us apart so easily. With a deep breath I took the remaining steps towards Will, pausing right in front of his line of vision. I was being bold, far bolder than what I was used to, and I hoped he recognized it._

"_Must you be so silent? If you wish to be alone before going on this dangerous journey I understand, but at least tell me! I cannot determine whether you're upset or concentrating on what you're about to do. A clouded mind will only result in failure, and I truly don't wish for that to happen." He still didn't answer, despite my pleas. In fact, his eyes were locked on the portion of the wall directly over my shoulder. In desperation I took hold of his hand with both of mine. "Will… please."_

_Only seconds after I grabbed his hand he locked eyes with me. They were slightly wider than normal and held lingering traces of his confusion, as though finally realizing I had moved closer to him. I must have looked truly desperate for his other hand covered my two and he gave them a tight squeeze. "I'm sorry, Evelyn. My mind is elsewhere. I didn't mean to upset you."_

"_You could never upset me, Will Turner, only worry me," I smiled, causing a slight one to appear on his lips as well. "So long as you're not troubled, I'll leave you until Barbossa calls."_

"… _I was thinking of my father."_

_My smile fell. "What about your father?"_

"_Of how we need to free him." Hope lit Will's eyes as he continued to reveal what it was that had been on his mind. "Only the _Black Pearl _has a chance of taking on the _Flying Dutchman_, we witnessed that before the Kraken came. If we bring Jack back, the _Pearl _comes with him. They're both in Davy Jones' Locker, to which Sao Feng has the charts. If I could just speak with him, strike a bargain, then perhaps he could help us-"_

"_Are you suggesting we betray our friends? Cross both Barbossa and Jack?"_

"_Evelyn, you know of the cruelty Jones forces onto his crew, and still my father helped us. He sacrificed himself. And for that he'll be under the full wrath of Davy Jones until he becomes part of the ship, losing himself entirely. Is this what you want to happen to him?"_

"_No," I feverishly shook my head, "no, of course not! He's dear to me and I'd never wish harm upon him."_

_Will, in his excitement, clutched my hand even tighter and stood, bringing us closer together. "Then you will help me?"_

"_You know I will, but not like this." I weaved my hands out of his, ignoring the tingling on my skin. "Will, you must realize what you said is not the best action. It's going against our entire plan of rescuing Jack, deceiving our friends in the process. Can you not just wait until the Brethren Court? Barbossa said-"_

"_I know what Barbossa said, but how am I to trust the man who wanted to kill us?"_

"_And you think I trust him?" I traced Will's face with my eyes for an answer, but found nothing. The light once fueling him had diminished, making me feel terrible for putting it out. "He's the only one who has any sense of what we should do. We have no choice but to follow him. Crossing Barbossa will only get us into trouble. Although we may look like pirates and are a part of his crew, we are not like them. We don't betray our friends."_

_Will sighed, running a hand through his hair in clear frustration. He wanted to save his father so desperately that he risked getting himself killed. Although I would willingly follow any of his plans to save Bootstrap, I did not want the result to end in his death, even if it meant putting off Bootstrap's freedom for a little while longer. A better plan would come, and I prayed its appearance would be soon or else I'd find myself agreeing with a potentially suicidal idea._

"_You're right, Evelyn... We don't betray o__ur friends." Will's statement was relieving, but the movement of his eyes was not. They were flitting around the space before him. The way they usually did when he formulated plans._

"_Promise me," I flatly said, slight suspicion fueling my words._

_His eyes turned to me with accompanying furrowed brows. "What?"_

"_Promise me we won't betray anyone," I challenged. "And do so on this." Despite having to change our whole attire, one of the few things Will decided to keep was the necklace of trinkets I made him, and I wasted no time in clutching the end of the cord and waving it near his face. Will always kept his promises to me, and if he did so on my gift to him, then I knew with my entire being that he wouldn't dare go against it._

_Will probably thought I was kidding. His face lifted into a smile and his head fell back with a single chuckle. But I retained such a serious expression that each of his reactions turned on themselves. He wrapped his hand over mine, taking a firm hold of both myself and the necklace. An expression mirroring my own took away all humor from his face. "I promise you that we will not betray anyone. No blame will come to us."_

"_Good," I happily nodded, satisfied with his oath. The necklace I then guided back to his chest, smoothing it over his maroon shirt with the assistance of his hand. I meant to remove myself when I finished, but I felt compelled to stay where I was and speak my mind. "There are only a few people in this world that I have faith in, and above them all I trust you the most. I needed your promise not because I doubt you, but because I trust you enough not to deceive me. Will, you're the only person I completely believe in."_

_I didn't know why I felt the need to tell him my reasoning for his promise, or why afterwards I still didn't say my farewell and leave, which had been my plan the entire time. A part of me wanted to reinforce that I didn't think him dishonest. Will Turner had proven to be a man of his word numerous times, so he should already know I thought highly of him. Yet still I felt the need to be close beside him, despite the additional unwanted feeling of rising tension._

_The air suddenly felt close and a buzzing swarmed my ears from a pounding in my chest. I could hardly breathe, making the habit of biting my lip act up. "We're probably close enough for you to row ashore by now, yes?" I uncomfortably shifted my feet, darting my eyes from Will's face to the stairs. "We should join the others on deck then."_

_I stepped around him, relief filling me with every step. My part had been said, among other things, and I felt comfortable have my official last farewell be amongst the company of the crew. However, in my alleviation, the placement of my hand slipped my mind._

_One moment I was heading towards the stairs, and the next I felt a harmless yet strong pull on my arm that propelled me back into Will. Before I could even gather what happened, a rather unexpected kiss from him fell upon my lips. We hadn't done this since Tia Dalma's shack, and to say I hadn't longed to kiss him again would be a lie. So I rose further into him until my chest collided with his, embracing the moment. When my fingers slid up his arms and onto his shoulders though, a sharp pain iced my insides and I pushed away from him._

_We couldn't do this._

_I loved him, but we simply could not do this._

_My hand lifted to my lips, grazing where his had been. Only when Will took a step towards me, a remorseful tone deeply shaping the entirety of his body, did I remove it to motion him to stop. I looked him directly in the eyes when he did, lowering my hand back to my side._

"_Goodbye, William Turner." My voice was flat, perhaps sounding angry to his ears when actually all I felt was confused. Without another word I spun on my heels and steadily made my way to the stairs._

_Although Will did not run after me, his voice did. "Evelyn," I heard him call as my hand grasped the handrail. My knuckles tightened around the frame, but I neither answered his call nor turned back to him. I almost did, though, because of the wavering of his apologetic voice. He was just as confused as me. "Evelyn," he tried again a bit louder as I began the climb towards the deck. It had to be evident by that point I was not going back, and so desperation entered the remaining of his calls. "Evelyn… Evelyn!"_

~.~.~.~.

"_Evelyn!"_

I could nearly hear his voice as I dug into the iron bars of the sewer; feel the warmth of his lips upon mine.

"_Evelyn!"_

Why did we keep doing this to one another? Whenever one of us acted on an impulse, the other willingly complied even though the entire action shouldn't be happening. We were bound to separate paths.

"_Evelyn!"_

I was frustrated. Never before had I realized how much so until I forced more pressure onto my file. My fingers hurt from gripping it so tightly, but the pain didn't amount to the riddles of my mind. Its constant flow of tearing away bits of metal was the only thing holding me back from erupting into an aggravated cry. Will and I had both gotten ourselves into a mess with our emotions, and I saw no possible way of us escaping it unscathed.

_Does he even feel the same confusion and frustration?_

"Evelyn!" Gibbs harshly growled, grabbing my hand with such force I nearly dropped my file. I lightly yelped in surprise, drawing his cold eyes upon me. The roughness of his stare left me wondering whether I'd imagined my name being called of it if had been Gibbs the entire time. "Stop! Tia Dalma's not playing."

"Why?" I whispered, to which none answered. The answer was unimportant anyway. We were fat too busy watching the bridge above us, anxiously waiting what lied in store.

After a rather stressful minute ticked by, her music started back up again at the same pace it had been before. She was safe and content, and therefore we were too. Gibbs's relieved command of "Again!" matched all our thoughts as we returned to our work. The only thing left do was-

_Crack._

Break the iron bars.

"We're through! Make ready!" Gibbs's command was instantly carried out. Each of us grabbed a portion of the bars and pulled back with whatever strength we could muster. Although filing at them had taken a fair amount of time, removing the heavy metal from the sewer entrance proved to surprisingly easy. We only needed to pull once. "This way, lads!"

Despite his command, Ragetti climbed into the sewer first. Pintel took after him, followed by a smiling Marty. The walls of the sewer were so small we had to crawl just to pass through, but not so small that Marty had to do the same. He could walk through the tunnel. Since he could maneuver with greater ease, he made Cotton hand him the larger bundle of weapons. His act of kindness was rare within the pirate community, and I nodded my own thanks as the weapons were handed to him.

I remained at the entrance of the sewers until Gibbs and Cotton crawled in. The dark, dripping tunnels were not the reason I opted to go last. They did not frighten my in the slightest. I merely wanted to make sure everyone else made it inside. Barbossa secretively assigned me this task, saying that since I was the most loyal I was least likely to run away from the dangers of Singapore. He also gave me a pistol. My additional duty was to protect the others, whether it be by use of strategizing a battle plan or using my strange aiming ability to fire at foreign followers. Barbossa had granted me such an important task that I didn't have the courage to tell him I'd hardly fired a pistol before.

Regardless, I upheld my assignment, praying that I wouldn't have to test my skill with the gun.

Maneuvering through the sewers took time, too much time in my opinion. If the tunnels hadn't have grown to a height where I could stand, I probably would have gone mad from the smell. A musty aroma tainted the dirt floors of the tunnels, seemingly disappearing once we rose onto our feet. I took numerous deep breaths, which drew everyone's eyes.

"I'm not use to foul smelling things, move along!" I explained, ushering my hands forward. They complied, thankfully, though some couldn't help shake their heads. I glared after them despite the backs of their heads facing me.

Our goal was to reach the steam room beneath the bath house, so having a slightly clouded vision deep into the sewers gladdened me instead of distressing. More voices of men then began to faintly fill the air, though this time the language was clearly not English. It was Chinese, and most likely belonged to the steam workers.

"Wait here," Ragetti whispered back to us upon reaching the end of our tunnel. Beyond him I could just make out the room opening up a little and the slight alteration of color given off by fire. We were definitely close.

After making sure we would all safely fit in the slightly more opened passageway, Ragetti summoned the rest of us over with a wave of his hand. Gibbs moved out first, but I quickly followed after him to better squeeze in front of Ragetti. Although anyone could easily sneak off now that I was not at the end of the line, I needed to see what exactly we would be facing in order to accomplish the second part of my assignment.

Peering around the stone archway, my first site was of an incredibly large man. I'd never met anyone that could even come close to matching his height or roundness. Simply witnessing just how big one human could possibly become had me taking in a deep breath. _This is going to be much more difficult than I thought._

Movement stirred from behind me. I shot my head back just in time to see Ragetti launch from his post. He, too, had seen our rather large foe and apparently decided the task was too much for him. However, when I attempted to chase after him, I nearly kicked Marty on accident. I hadn't even noticed him come up behind me.

Thankfully Gibbs managed to catch him. "None of that," he whispered. "If things don't go the way we want, then we're the only chance they've got." Ragetti widely blinked his response, which apparently angered Gibbs enough to fling the man back to his original position.

"Barbossa and Elizabeth are counting on us. If we can't get through they're as good as dead," I harshly emphasized. We were a key element to the overall plan and everyone needed to know it before making up their mind to flee.

I took another glance at the steamed room. Two other men we pumping something in the far corner while the larger man had moved to shoveling coal into the large fire pit near us. On the opposite side of the room a clump of numerous squares were tied together beside many dangling strings with a weight tied at the end. I assumed they somehow acted as communication to the above bath house, for how else would the workers know when to release more steam? The details of the bath house's functions were unnecessary for the time being, however. All we needed was a plan to get the men away from their stations so we could take over.

After analyzing both the room and our supplies one final time, the faintest of ideas began to form in my head. I smiled at the five men facing me. "Boys, I have our plan of action."


End file.
